www.list.co.uk/film
page 48. General release. The Joneses (15) ●●●●● (Derrick Borte , US, 2009) David Duchovny, Demi Moore, Amber Heard. 95min. See Also Released, page 48. General release from Fri 23 Apr. Journey to a Kingdom (U) ●●●●● (Timothy Neat, UK, 1992) 52min. Hailed Grampian TV documentary about the life and times of Hamish Henderson, legendary Scottish folklorist who died in 2002. A Monorail Film Club presentation. Glasgow Film Theatre. Journey to the Edge of the Universe (12A) (Yavar Abbas, US, 2008) 96min. Non-stop trip mapping the journey from Earth to infinity, encountering powerful and beautiful phenomena in the Cosmos, from pulsars to super massive black holes. Introduction and Q&A with Professor Donald Wayne Kurtz, Centre for Astrophysics, University of Central Lancashire. Part of Edinburgh International Science Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Kick-Ass (15) ●●●●● (Matthew Vaughn, US/UK, 2010) Nicolas Cage,
Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Moretz. 117min. Big screen adaptation of Mark Millar’s massively popular comic in which a bunch of misfit teens don superhero costumes and get stuck into some stylised vigilante action. Successfully celebrating a teen boys’ idea of ‘cool’, Vaughn has a feeling for characters and story arcs that his Lock, Stock . . . collaborator Guy Ritchie has long since forgotten. Quite frankly, Vaughn kicks ass. General release. LA Confidential (18) ●●●●● (Curtis Hanson, US, 1997) Kevin Spacey, Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe, Kim Basinger. 135min. Adapted from James Ellroy’s neo- noir novel, the best American film of 1997 evokes a glitzy post-World War II Los Angeles underpinned by an all-pervasive, festering corruption. An intricate, drop-dead brilliant plot links bent cops, good cops, Hollywood star lookalike prostitutes and the mob. The dialogue crackles and the actors burn up the screen: this is one of the few films one would dare mention in the same breath as the definitive Chinatown. Scotsman Screening Room, Edinburgh. Life During Wartime (15) ●●●●● (Todd Solondz, US, 2009) Shirley Henderson, Ciaran Hinds, Allison Janney. 97min. See review, page 46. Glasgow Film Theatre. Lion’s Den (15) ●●●●● (Pablo Trapero, Argentina/South Korea/Brazil, 2008) Martina Gusman, Elli Medeiros, Rodrigo Santoro. 113min. See review, page 48. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Little Moscow (15) (Waldemar Krzystek, Poland, 2008) Svetlana Khodchenkova, Leslaw Zurek, Dmitri Ulyanov. 114min. Cold War-set drama in which a young Soviet officer and a local Polish woman must choose between loyalty and love. Part of New Europe Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. My Flesh my Blood (15) (Marcin Wrona, Poland, 2009) Eryk Lubos, Luu De Ly, Wojciech Zielinski. 90min. A brain- damaged boxer who is desperate to have a child strikes a deal with a Vietnamese immigrant looking to get her hands on a Polish work permit. Part of New Europe Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Nanny McPhee & The Big Bang (U) ●●●●● (Susanna White, US, 2010) Emma Thompson, Ralph Fiennes, Maggie Gyllenhaal. 109min. Sequel to the popular 2005 family film. This time Gyllenhaal is single mum Isabel Green (hubbie is off to fight the Hun in WW2) with three out of control nippers to contend with and two insufferably posh evacuee cousins about to arrive on their farm. General release.
✽✽ Nightwatching (18) ●●●●● (Peter Greenaway,
Poland/Netherlands/Canada/UK/France, 2007) Martin Freeman, Emily Holmes, Eva Birthistle. 134min. See feature, page 44 and review, page 46. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
✽✽ No Greater Love (PG) ●●●●● (Michael Whyte, UK, 2009) 100min.
See review, page 48. Selected release. Nowhere Boy (15) ●●●●● (Sam Taylor-Wood, UK/Canada, 2009) Kristin
Scott Thomas, Thomas Sangster, Aaron Johnson. 97min. Artist Taylor-Wood turns feature director with Nowhere Boy, a portrait of John Lennon’s (Johnson) adolescence. Scott Thomas and Anne-Marie Duff come off best in this 1950s period tableaux but, shorn of Lennon’s rapier wit, Johnson comes over as just another moody pretty-boy, railing at the world to conceal his lack of self-understanding. Empire, Clydebank; Odeon at the Quay, Glasgow. 1234 (15) (Giles Borg, UK, 2008) Ian Bonar, Lyndsey Marshal, Kieran Bew. 75min. Stuck in a dead-end job, nerdy musician Stevie (Bonar) is desperately seeking a girlfriend. Along comes new band member Billy (Bew) and his cute pal Emily (Marshal), and Stevie’s hopes are finally on the rise. Cameo, Edinburgh. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (PG) ●●●●● (Chris Columbus, Canada/US, 2010) Brandon T Jackson, Steve Coogan, Uma Thurman. 118min. Big screen adaptation of Rick Riordan’s first fantasy adventure novel featuring Greek mythology-baiting child Percy Jackson. Possible franchise? We think so. Odeon at the Quay, Glasgow; Odeon Braehead, Renfrew. Planet 51 (U) ●●●●● (Jorge Blanco/Javier Abad, US, 2009) Voices of Dwayne Johnson, Jessica Beil, Gary Oldman. 90min. Dull, mildly offensive Spanish animated feature about one astronaut’s adventures as an illegal alien on a far-flung planet. Empire, Clydebank; Cineworld Fountainpark, Edinburgh. Ponyo (U) ●●●●● (Hayao Myazki, Japan, 2008) Voices of Noah Cyrus, Liam Neeson, Frankie Jonas. 101min. Delightful animated feature from the Studio Ghibli brand about a five-year-old boy who falls for a goldfish princess. It’s funny, charming and original enough to keep adults entertained, but where it really scores is Miyazaki’s (Spirited Away) ability to understand what a child sees. Like its goldfish heroine, Ponyo may seem like a slight and slivery proposition, but it dives to uncharted depths. Selected release. Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire (15) ●●●●● (Lee Daniels, US, 2009) Gabourney Sidibe, Mo’Nique, Paula Patton. 110min. The central turn from Gabourey ‘Gabby’ Sidibe as the titular protagonist – an abused black, overweight and uneducated single mother – is mesmerising and endearing. Despite being made pregnant for the second time by her own father, Gabby fantasises about fame and fortune. Unexpected and moving, the Sundance and Toronto film festivals’ top prizewinner, based on the novel Push by Sapphire, is a gem from the projects. Cameo, Edinburgh. Prince (PG) ●●●●● (Kookie V Gulati, India, 2010) Vivek Oberoi, Aruna Shields, Nandana Sen. 125min. A thief wakes up with a gunshot wound and memory loss to a terrible day: cops on his tail, a mysterious girlfriend and a heist that threatens the future of the human race. Selected release. The Princess and the Frog (U) ●●●●● (Ron Clements/John Musker, US, 2010) Voices of Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos, Keith David. 97min. Set in 1920s Louisiana and featuring Disney’s first African-American Princess, this culturally important, beautiful and evocative (of a New Orleans that no longer exists) film may not have the standout musical numbers of some of its stablemates but is an old fashioned treat all the same. Cineworld Parkhead, Glasgow; Vue Ocean, Edinburgh; Glasgow Film Theatre. Privilege (18) ●●●●● (Yvonne Rainer, UK, 1990) 103min. Influential avant-garde filmmaker Rainer’s Privilege shifts from documentary to fiction and back as it marries cultural theory with drama in a broad-ranging and compelling social critique. CCA, Glasgow.
✽✽ Psycho (18) ●●●●● (Alfred Hitchcock, US, 1960) Anthony
Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin. 108min. Digital reissue of Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal 1960 exercise in terror. Accept no imitations and witness the birth of the modern slasher/horror film. Glasgow Film Theatre; Cameo, Edinburgh.
Remember Me (12A) ●●●●● (Allen Coulter, US, 2010) Robert Pattinson, Emilie De Ravin, Pierce Brosnan. 112min. A US box-office belly flop, this overwrought drama sees ‘RPatz’ play rebellious rich boy Tyler Hawkins, a misfit New Yorker who unwisely gets into a punch-up with a police sergeant (Cooper). Memorable only for its crass attempt to exploit genuine tragedy for entertainment purposes. General release. Repo Men (18) ●●●●● (Miguel Sapochnik, US/Canada, 2010) Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Liev Schreiber. 111min. See review, page 45. General release.
✽✽ Samson and Delilah (15) ●●●●● (Warwick Thornton, Australia, 2009) Rowan McNamara, Marissa Gibson, Mitjili Napanangka Gibson. 101min. Thornton draws on his experience of growing up in central Australia for this directorial debut about two teenagers who form an unlikely relationship. Their Aboriginal community is captured without judgement, including the violence, drug abuse and the antagonistic relationship with their white neighbours, and it is this impartial documentation that makes this an intelligent and unsentimental work. Without doubt a very worthy and moving cinematic experience. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Scent of a Woman (15) ●●●●● (Dino Risi, Italy, 1974) Vittorio Gassman, Alessandro Momo, Agostina Belli. 103min. Legendary Italian actor Gassman delivers a stellar performance as Fausto, a blind army officer assigned a young cadet to accompany him on a weekend trip from Turin to Naples. This is the film that inspired the American remake with Al Pacino. See profile in listings. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Seasons (PG) (The Collective, Canada, 2007) 65min. Following seven of the world’s top mountain bikers through the course of four seasons, this brings an air of cinematic grandeur to the daring sport. Part of Bike Film Festival. Glasgow Film Theatre. She, A Chinese (18) ●●●●● (Xiaolu Guo, UK/France/Germany, 2009) Huang Lu, Wei Yi Bo, Geoffrey Hutchings. 103min. See review, page 46. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Shelter (15) ●●●●● (Marlind & Stein, US, 2010) Julianne Moore, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Jeffrey DeMunn. 112min. Moore stars as a female forensic psychiatrist who discovers that most of one of her patient’s multiple personalities are murder victims. She investigates and soon wishes she hadn’t. A solidly made and compelling thriller, this is different enough to hold interest for its duration. General release. Shutter Island (15) ●●●●● (Martin Scorsese, US, 2010) Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley. 138min. Marking his fourth collaboration with Scorsese, DiCaprio plays US Marshall Teddy Daniels who arrives on the storm- drenched rock off the coast of Boston with his new partner to investigate the disappearance of a patient from a mental institution run by a suspicious shrink. Based on the 1954-set novel by Dennis Lehane, this is expertly cast and executed – and way over the top. General release. Signe Baumane (18) (Signe Baumane, Latvia, Various) 79min. Selection of award- winning films from Latvian animator Signe Baumane. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Slovenian Girl (18) (Damjan Kozole, Slovenia/Germany/Serbia/Croatia/Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2009) Nina Ivanisin, Peter Musebski, Primoz Pirnat. 90min. Set in Ljubljana in 2008, when Slovenia was chair of the European Union for six months, the titular girl is 23-year-old student and call girl Alexandra. Things get complicated when one of her clients suffers a heart attack after overdosing on viagra. Part of New Europe Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Snow White and Russian Red (18) (Xawery Zulawski, Poland, 2009) Borys Szyc, Roma Gasiorowska, Maria Strzelecka. 110min. Adapted from Dorota Maslowska’s novel, Zulawski’s film follows slippery low level criminal Silny (Szyc) as he negotiates the trials of Warsaw’s underbelly. A highly
Index Film stylised work that voices the problems faced by youths in urban environments. Part of New Europe Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Sons of Cuba (12A) ●●●●● (Andrew Lang, UK, 2009) 88min. Largely avoiding tough questions about the regime, Lang’s documentary on the Havana Boxing Academy follows a group of talented 10- year-olds as they prepare for the Cuban National championships in 2006. He concentrates on the tough training schedules and only occasionally touches upon the politics of the country and although hardship is evident, the movie feels romanticised. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Spy Next Door (PG) ●●●●● (Brian Levant, US, 2010) Jackie Chan, Amber Valletta, Madeline Carroll. 94min. Chan follows in the footsteps of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop and Vin Diesel in The Pacifier in a role as a put- upon babysitter to bratty kids. After an opening sequence of fabulous stunt-work from Chan’s earlier work, the action hero struggles gamely to inject any reality into this patronising comedy-thriller. Selected release. St Trinian’s 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold (PG) ●●●●● (Barnaby Thompson/Oliver Parker, UK, 2009) Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Talulah Riley. 106min. More naughty girls’ adventures in this revived Ealing comedy franchise starring various members of Girls Aloud. This time the girls go in search of hidden treasure. Empire, Clydebank. Stroke of Luck (15) (Francesca Archibugi, Italy, 2009) Kim Rossi Stuart, Antonio Albanese, Micaela Ramazzotti. 104min. Two very different men – a family businessman and a lonesome screenwriter – strike up a close and unusual friendship when they meet in a hospital ward after both suffering heart attacks. Part of Italian Film Festival. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Summer Walkers (PG) ●●●●● (Timothy Neat, UK, 1976) 53min. Revealing documentary about the lives of the crofters, horse dealers, hawkers and pearl fishers from the North West of Scotland in the 1970s, now sadly depleted in numbers. A Monorail Film Club presentation. Glasgow Film Theatre. The Big Dream (15) (Michele Placido, Italy/France, 2009) Riccardo Scamarcio, Jasmine Trinca, Luca Argentero. 101min. Semi-autobiographical account set in 1968 centring upon a policeman who goes undercover in order to spy on the leaders of the leftist student movement. Part of Italian Film Festival. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Other Irene (15) (Andrei Gruzsniczki, Romania, 2009) Andi Vasluianu, Simona Popescu, Dan Astilean. 90min. Romanian-set drama in which a security guard reluctantly lets his wife go off on a business trip only to find that she doesn’t return. Portraying a stark political landscape and based on a true story, The Other Irene chronicles a fraught ordeal fuelled by dubious bureaucrats and criminal embassies. Part of New Europe Film Festival. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
The Lovely Bones (12A) Fri 16 Apr 11:00 (cuppa), 19:30 Sat 17 Apr 19:30 Precious (15) Mon 26 Apr 19:30
15–29 Apr 2010 THE LIST 51